"But, whatever be the opinion held upon Julian's attitude toward the Christians, all are unanimous in asserting his great friendship towards his Jewish subjects. His well-known attempt to rebuild the Temple has brought his name into honourable connection with Israel's history, which has nothing but the highest terms of praise and gratitude to bestow upon this heathen Emperor. As in the cases of Pedro the Cruel and Saint Louis of France, Julian is looked upon by Jewish historians through an entirely different medium to that employed by non-Jewish writers. So far from being the monster of iniquity represented by the Church Fathers, Julian was one of the very few rulers of the Roman world who extended the hand of friendship and good-will to the scattered race of Israel. He thus stands out in marked contrast to the two Christian Emperors who preceded him, Constantine the Great and Constantius, whose treatment of the Jews reflects no credit upon their newly-adopted creed, and leads the reader of history to prefer the heathen Julian to his Christian predecessors."

By the mid-fourth century, Christianity was no longer a persecuted religion, but was instead promoted and protected by the state. Paganism was certainly still present in the empire but now had to take the backseat to another powerful religion, Christianity. Following Constantine, all Roman emperors, with the exception of Julian, were Christian. Julian decided to return to paganism and enact several religious reforms to guarantee the revitalization and survival of the pagan religions. These facts made Julian’s reign and life controversial in that, had he lived longer, it is quite possible that Christianity would not have achieved the status and power it did in later times.

Video Title: The Emperor Julian and the last stand of the old gods (331 - 363). Source: pangeaprogressredux. Date Published: March 4, 2016.